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Monday Football
24 March 2008
by Jerrad Peters

Most compelling viewing
Manchester United 3-0 Liverpool

It is never a surprise when the call-in shows are working overtime after Manchester United and Liverpool clash in the Premier League. On either side of the divide, callers queue for hours to state an opinion or express an emotion. English football’s most famous rivalry is never short of talking-points. And Sunday was no exception.

Given United’s 3-0 triumph, however, you would think that one or two people would have cared to either bask or wallow in the result. Not so. Sloppy and casual, neither side produced the gripping sort of spectacle that is so often generated by this northeastern derby. Then again, the substance was not in the passing, possession, or even the result. Quite the contrary, in fact.

When Javier Mascherano was shown a second yellow-card in the 44th-minute at Old Trafford, the agenda was set for the following week. Just four days earlier, Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole had escaped serious punishment for a horrific tackle on Tottenham’s Alan Hutton and a subsequent show of disrespect to referee Mike Riley. Mascherano was not as fortunate. And given the outcry which followed the Cole incident, he was never going to be. Which makes the Argentine midfielder’s behavior all the more inexplicable. For in the midst of a disciplinarian crack-down on behalf of the match officials, the 23-year-old lost his head and threw one of the most mindless tantrums in Premier League history.

The initial caution, which followed a questionable tackle on United midfielder Paul Scholes, may or may not have warranted a booking. But that’s not the point. Mascherano’s ensuing outburst was disgraceful and nearly resulted in his sending-off after just 11-minutes. From there, he was always on the edge – chirping at Steve Bennett whenever the two were in close proximity. And when the match official showed a yellow card to Fernando Torres just shy of the interval, Mascherano’s flare-up left Bennett with no choice.

A trio of Liverpool players, a trainer, and manager Rafael Benitez were required to drag the former West Ham and Corinthians stalwart from the pitch. It was a shameful scene. And Benitez’ vain attempt to defend Mascherano was just as ridiculous. There is no shielding a footballer who has lost his head. Of course, doing so is guaranteed to distract the vultures from picking at the fact that Liverpool now trail the league-leaders by 14-points.

Don’t look now, but Mascherano will be suspended for the coming weekend’s Merseyside derby while striker Fernando Torres is doubtful due to an ankle injury. Just two points ahead of Everton, fourth-place is hardly a sure thing. Liverpool may have arrived at Old Trafford on the back of some good results; but the unfortunate events which transpired are the types that derail seasons.

Notable results
Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal

Arsenal’s dire run of domestic form continued, Sunday, with a 2-1 loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Winless in the league since early February, their five-point lead in the standings has been transformed into a six-point deficit. With draws against Middlesbrough, Wigan, Aston Villa, and Birmingham City, they have produced a pitiful four points from a possible fifteen. The goals have dried up. And manager Arsene Wenger has run out of excuses.

Still, after an uneventful opening half at their crosstown rivals, Arsenal went ahead through Bacary Sagna. The 25-year-old French left-back connected with a Cesc Fabregas corner in the 59th-minute to draw first blood. The lead lasted all of 14-minutes, however, before a series of Didier Drogba goals overturned what had the appearance of an away win for the Gunners.

Drogba, for that matter, should have opened the scoring in the 24th-minute after John Terry put him clear in front of Manuel Almunia. Salomon Kalou had his chances as well. And Michael Ballack created opportunities at the outset of both periods.

But it was the Ivory Coast international who, after 73-minutes, struck a well-earned equalizer for the hosts before converting a Joe Cole free-kick just 9-minutes later. The win catapults Chelsea ahead of Arsenal in the table with 68-points to 67. The Blues also trail Manchester United by five-points while Arsenal have an eight-point lead over fourth-place Liverpool.

Stuggart 4-1 Hansa Rostock

All of a sudden, Stuttgart are just five-points back of second-place in the Bundesliga. With Bayern Munich cruising to the championship, none of Hamburg, Bayer Leverkusen, Werder Bremen, or Schalke 04 have been able to put enough of a consistent run together to either challenge Bayern atop the table or stake a claim to the runners-up position. And, out of the weeds, Stuggart have pounced.

Unbeaten in seven matches, the title-holders have made considerable ground since the Christmas break. Struggling to maintain a place in the top-half of the table after a horrific start to the season, they now trail fourth place Werder Bremen by three-points. And given the inconsistent form of their rivals, a top-two finish and a return to the Champions’ League is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Mario Gomez is largely to thank for the turnaround. With eight goals in his past seven outings, the 22-year-old has established himself as one of the more potent strikers on the continent. Manager Armin Veh’s entire attacking corps has stepped up, however. Each of Gomez, Cacau, Yildiray Basturk, Pavel Pardo, and Thomas Hitzlesperger have been sensational over the past month.

Bayern Munich 2-1 Bayer Leverkusen

After losing back-to-back matches for the first time this season, Bayern Munich put themselves back among the wins by beating red-hot Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 at Allianz Arena. Italian international striker Luca Toni scored twice in the contest – increasing his league-best haul to 16-goals. But while his return to form must have been encouraging for manager Ottmar Hitzfeld, Bayern absolutely dominated Leverkusen. They unloaded 21-attempts at goal while conceding just four. And while the visitors retained much of the ball in stretches, they could not break the defensive barrier in front of goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.

Leverkusen manager Michael Skibbe replaced striker Theofanis Gekas with Paul Freir and midfielder Sergej Barbarez with Chilean prodigy Arturo Vidal at the break. But it made no difference. By the time Dmitry Bulykin had pulled his side to within a goal, it was too late for a come-back. Leverkusen, third in the Bundesliga, trail second-place Hamburg by two-points and leaders Bayern by nine. They are also level on 44-points with both Werder Bremen and Schalke 04. Bremen were held at Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday while Schalke were 2-1 winners at Hertha Berlin.

Inter Milan 1-2 Juventus

With 58-points from 30-matches, Juventus are firmly entrenched among Italy’s Champions’ League candidates for next season. Playing some of the most attractive football in the country, they have rebounded from enforced relegation in style. New manager Claudio Ranieri has encouraged creativity and fluency while bolstering the squad with young, energetic additions such as Vincenza Iaquinta and Mohamed Sissoko to offset an experienced group of players.

Juve were at their best on Saturday as they beat struggling league-leaders Inter Milan 2-1 at the San Siro. After a scoreless first-half, Mauro Camoranesi beat Julio Cesar for the game’s first goal. David Trezeguet added his 15th tally in 17-appearances just three minutes after the hour-mark to give the visitors a commanding two-goal cushion. And while Inter boss Roberto Mancini made a series of substitutions shortly after the restart, his players did not respond. Since losing to Liverpool at Anfield in the Champions’ League Round-of-16, the Nerazzurri have won just two of their past nine matches and watched as a seemingly insurmountable lead in the standings evaporated to just four-points this weekend.

Roma 2-1 Empoli

With eight matches to play, AS Roma are just four points adrift of Inter Milan and a first Scudetto since 2001. In beating Empoli in Rome at the weekend, they took advantage of Inter’s latest stumble and also remained six-points clear of third-place Juventus.

It was not an automatic three-points against the Tuscan side, however. Embroiled in a relegation battle, Empoli approached the contest with eye to winning it and traded chances with their hosts throughout the 90-minutes. Still, as has often been the case since Luciano Spaletti took the reigns of the Giallorossi in 2005, Roma were simply too potent. Even after Simone Perrotta was dismissed in the 57th-minute, Christian Panucci was able to notch the match-winner. It was the 34-year-old right-back’s 13th league goal with the club and cancelled Sebastien Giovinco’s earlier equalizer.

Empoli, with 26-points, are now two back of Livorno and safety. The bottom-half of Serie A is rather tight, however, and three-points would boost them to 15th-spot in the standings.

We won’t know until the coming weekend whether Barcelona can really transform Real Madrid’s title procession into a two-horse race. The Catalans have been here before – pulling to within touching distance of the leaders before buckling under the pressure of pursuit. This time, however, Madrid may be doing their work for them. With successive losses, the reigning champions have blown the title race wide open. And if they succumb to their archrivals, they will have no one but themselves to blame.

Full credit to Valencia, however. Down in the dumps, Los Che gave it everything at the Bernabeu. They came flying out of the gates – fresh off a surprising upset over Barcelona in the Copa del Rey, midweek. And while they carried the play, Wesley Sneijder and Julio Baptista created the best opportunities of the opening half-hour.

Madrid’s sloppy defensive play finally cost them in the 34th-minute. David Silva, running onto the slip-up, put a superb pass through to David Villa who beat Casillas for the first goal of the match. The hosts were on level terms within a minute, however. Robinho’s cross from the left of goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand was headed by Raul for his 14th-goal of the season. The Madrid skipper was spot-on in the 56th-minute as well – converting a wonderful pass from Guti for the go-ahead.

Now firmly in the ascendancy, Madrid were unlucky when defender Fabio Cannavarro tackled David Silva in the box. Villa completed his brace with the resulting penalty; and it appeared as though the two sides were headed to a draw.

But with less than a minute of normal time remaining on the referee’s watch, Javier Arizmendi raced down the right flank before beating Casillas with a tricky effort which appeared, for a moment, to more resemble an attempt at a cross than a shot.

With 39-points, Valencia are joint-8th in the standings but 11th-place through goal-differential. Atletic Bilbao, Getafe, and Almeria also have 39-points apiece.

Sparta Rotterdam 3-2 Feyenoord

Sparta supporters are chuffed for two reasons at the moment. The club’s three-points at the weekend pulled them out of the relegation quagmire and to within three-points of 12th-place in the Eredivisie. More important, however, is the fact that the win came at home to local rivals Feyenoord.

Playing in front of just over 11,000 fans at Het Kasteel, Sparta Rotterdam earned a famous 3-2 victory over their opponents and lifted themselves ahead of VVV-Venlo and Willen II Tilburg in the 18-team table. Nourdin Boukhari scored twice for the hosts to cancel strikes from Theo Lucius and Holland international Giovanni Van Bronckhorst. With seven goals so far this season, the 27-year-old Morocco international equaled the best total of a career that has brought him to Ajax, NEC Breda, Nantes, and AZ Alkmaar.

The Rotterdam derby seemed destined for a 2-2 draw, however, until 19-year-old Marvin Emnes won the match in added time.

Key contributors
Fred

Since returning to the Lyon squad last month after an extended absence through injury, Fred has caught fire. Hitting the ground running, the 24-year-old Brazilian has scored six goals in his past five matches. And they have been vital goals. Two of them came in a 2-0 win over Metz in late-February; and he scored the only goal of a 1-0 encounter away to Lille on March 1.

On Sunday, he was at it again. With two goals inside the opening 36-minutes, he set the tone against a Paris Saint-Germain side which appeared quite up for it at the Gerland. In 18th-place and threatened with relegation, PSG put up the kind of fight they have been sorely lacking all season.

Lyon, meanwhile, are moving from strength to strength. While Karim Benzema’s goalscoring record is among the very best in Europe – he has scored 29-goals in 27-matches – Kader Keita has finally hit his stride as well. It all makes for what should be a stroll to the club’s seventh title on the trot this spring.

Andre Bikey

Reading won a classic six-pointer at the Madjeski Stadium on Saturday. Entering the match in 15th-place and just one-point ahead of Birmingham City, the Royals moved five-points clear of the drop with just seven-matches to play.

Both Reading goals, as it happened, came from a rather unlikely source. Andre Bikey picked up his second and third goals of the season on either side of the break – connecting with a John Oster corner-kick for the first just after the half-hour and converting Nicky Shorey’s free-kick with 11-minutes to play.

Stephen Hunt deserves mention as well. The Ireland international tormented the Birmingham defense throughout the affair. His effort in chasing-down the ball in the 31st-minute led to the Oster corner which opened the scoring for the hosts.

Alexandre Pato

AC Milan ended a two-match losing skid, Saturday, by beating Torino 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico. Alexandre Pato scored the only goal of the contest in the 66th-minute – his seventh league goal in just 13-appearances. Paired with the struggling Alberto Gilardino in attack, the 18-year-old was mesmerizing. Even without the talismanic Kaka, Milan were always in control and launched an impressive 22-attempts at Torino goalkeeper Alberto Maria Fontana.

The victory, as provided by Pato, allowed the Rossoneri to keep pace with fourth-place Fiorentina. Just four-points behind La Viola, Milan will be hoping to usurp the Florence side by winning their next two matches against Atalanta and Cagliari. Fiorentina, meanwhile, play two of their next three league games against Udinese and Inter Milan and will battle PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Cup.

Man of the weekend
Bojan Krkic

Barcelona have been here before. Hot on the heels of league-leaders Real Madrid, they have blown chances to catch their archrivals time and again. Following brilliant performances with uninspiring ones, they have struggled for the consistency that was their trademark in 2005-2006, when they won the league and Champions’ League double.

As Sunday’s match against Valladolid approached, you could have excused manager Frank Rijkaard for his lower-than-usual expectations. After all, with each of Deco, Lionel Messi, and Ronaldinho absent through injury, just who would pick up the goalscoring slack remained to be seen.

Enter Bojan Krkic. Just 17-years-old, the son of a Spanish mother and Serbian father took matters into his own hands against the Castilians. By scoring twice and creating two others, the striker served notice that, like Alexandre Pato, he is poised to be one of the world’s top marksmen for years to come.

Shortly after kickoff, Krkic was at it. He nearly had the hosts ahead after just two-minutes when his effort was cleared off the line by defender Javier Baraja. Goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo was called into action to stop a Krkic shot shortly thereafter and Andres Iniesta also tested the 18-year-old.

Finally, after 24-minutes, Barca finally broke through. After some sublime workmanship from Thierry Henry, Krkic laid a perfect pass to Samuel Eto’o – the Cameroon international volleying past Asenjo for the opener.

A dubious penalty decision brought Valladolid back into things before half-time, however. And after Jonathan Gonzalez had equalized from the spot in the 31st-minute, the hosts appeared to come apart. So pitiful was the final quarter-hour that the Blaugranes were booed off the pitch by the home fans.

Thankfully, Iniesta restored the lead just two-minutes after the restart. After Yaya Toura passed to Krkic, the latter threaded the ball to Iniesta who deftly ran around Asenjo before slotting home.

Fifteen-minutes later, Krkic inscribed his own name on the scoresheet. With the visitors botching their off-side trap from a Barcelona set-piece, the young forward took control of the ball and rounded Asenjo before scoring from in close. With just seven-minutes remaining on the clock, he turned Eto’o’s cross past the ‘keeper for his second on the night.

With 58-points from 29-matches, Barcelona are just four-points adrift of Real Madrid. And while the Meringues have the difficult task of facing Sevilla at the weekend, Barca will be hoping to beat Real Betis and narrow the gap to a single point. But don’t hold your breath. At least not yet. After all, Barcelona have been here before.